1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to sleeves for protecting elongate members, and more particularly to self-wrapping textile sleeves.
2. Related Art
It is known to wrap wires and wire harnesses in protective sleeves, such as in automobiles, aircraft or aerospace craft, to provide protection to the wires against abrasion, fluid and thermal effects. In order to achieve the desired protection, the protective sleeve may have multiple layers, with some of the layers being specifically provided for different types of protection. For example, one layer may be provided for water resistance, e.g. a sheet of plastic material, while another layer may be provided for abrasion resistance, and yet another layer may be provided for protection against thermal conditions, e.g. a non-woven layer, and yet another layer constructed of copper wire may be provided for protection against electromagnet interference. Unfortunately, although the aforementioned multilayer sleeves may provide suitable protection against the various environmental and electromagnetic conditions, they typically are bulky and high mass, particularly resulting from solid copper wire, thereby being relatively heavy and exhibiting limited flexibility. This can prove troublesome in some applications, particularly applications requiring routing through tight, winding areas, and applications having weight restrictions, such as aircraft and aerospace applications, for example. In addition, the multilayered sleeves typically come at an increased cost.